by Dietmar Wehr
“I’ll make both of you a promise. Trafalgar will return to the Fleet from Vril regardless of what we find there, unless both of you agree otherwise. You two can log protests over this trip to Vril. In fact, I want you to do that. That should protect your careers from any repercussions.” A thought suddenly jumped into her head. “I promise one more thing. When we get to Vril, I’ll resign my commission and give you command of Trafalgar with my written recommendation that your field promotion be made permanent. How’s that, XO?” She saw the wheels turning as he contemplated gaining command of Trafalgar by a voluntary transfer of authority as compared to the questionable legalities of leading a mutiny.
“Okay, Skipper. One last trip. I hope you know what you’re doing. You may end up being stuck on Vril for a long, long time, you know.”
“I know,” she said as she looked at the AO. “How about you, Trevor?”
He just smiled and shrugged. “Hey, I’m just a lowly Astrogation Officer. If the XO is okay with this, who am I to object?”
Day 332/2549
Remington watched the main display show what the ship’s opticals were recording as Trafaglar descended through Vril’s atmosphere for a landing near the largest urban center on the planet. As the ship broke through the cloud cover, her heart sank. There were no ships on the ground, and with no ships in orbit, it was clear to her that she got here too late. She turned to the XO who was standing nearby.
“There’s nothing here. If they were here, they’ve already gone somewhere else.” The XO’s expression started to look worried. Remington held up her hand. “Don’t be concerned that I’m going to want to take the ship somewhere else, XO. I intend keeping my word. When we land, I’ll turn command over to you, log my resignation and leave the ship with my gear, which is already packed. At that point, you decide what this ship does next.”
An hour later, she was standing close to a group of local officials in front of the spaceport admin building. Everyone was watching as Trafalgar lifted off and quickly accelerated back into space. She watched until it had penetrated the cloud cover, and then she looked around. She had her gear, which didn’t amount to much, and she was wearing one of the few civilian outfits she had with her. An older man with short white hair came over to her. She already knew that he was the Colony’s CAO. He smiled at her.
“Well, Commander ah, Ms. Remington, welcome to Vril. I confess that I’m curious about why you decided to end your military career here on the edge of nowhere, so to speak.”
Remington decided she might as well tell him the truth. As she spoke, his expression changed from polite interest to sympathy and finally to surprise.
“Your long lost love is a man named Drake? Would that be Roland Drake?” he asked. She nodded. She hadn’t mentioned Drake’s first name. Before she could ask him whether Roland had been here, he said, “Have I got a surprise for you.”
Day 144/2550
Drake stood at the top of the ramp and looked out at the crowd standing not far from his ship. He was glad that he had made the decision to personally oversee the return convoy to pick up the locals who would be emigrating to the new colony. It would be his last chance to command a fleet of ships before settling down to his new administrative duties as Acting Chief of Space Operations for the new Republic of Excalibur. As he started to walk down the ramp, he noticed that everyone in the crowd was grinning but otherwise completely silent. He would have expected shouts of greeting at least. The crowd parted, and a woman stepped through. Drake didn’t recognize her at first, but as soon as he did, he began to run down the ramp. She ran to him, and when they threw their arms around each other and kissed, the crowd erupted with cheers.
Later that evening, after the parties and celebrations were over, the two of them were standing out on the balcony of the best suite at the best hotel in the city, compliments of the Management. It would take a few days to get everyone and everything loaded aboard the 12 freighters that were now sitting on and around the spaceport. They were both naked and had a blanket wrapped around them to ward off the chill from the cool night breeze. She had just finished telling him about Majestic’s prediction, Trojan’s plans for Empire and his black-uniformed fanatics.
“I wonder if he’ll pull it off,” she said.
“Make himself Emperor? With Majestic in his corner, I think the odds are that he will. What I’d like to know is whether he can build an Empire that’s stable enough to last after he’s gone.”
After a short pause, she said, “The jump drive breakthrough is a tremendous achievement, but it’ll take more than that for Excalibur to be able to liberate the SSU.”
“Yes, I know, but we have plenty of time now. You and I may not see the day when we come back in strength and take on the Empire, but our children might.”
She stood on her toes so that she could whisper into his ear. “Or we could return in peace and make nice with the Empire and the Emperor.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings.”
This is the End of Rumors of Honor.
Final Author’s Comments: If some of you are thinking that this series sounds familiar, it’s because I used background information from a couple of H. Beam Piper’s classic space opera novels of the ‘60s as inspiration. His Cosmic Computer and Space Viking novels are engrossing tales with lots of action and character development. Space Viking is also a gritty tale of revenge and redemption. I highly recommend them. You can find free copies from Gutenberg.org. With regards to my Rumors series, there will be at least one more book. The next book’s working title is Rumors of Salvation. I keep my mailing list up to date on my progress on each new book. If you’re not already on my mailing list, you can join by clicking here. You’ll get a confirmation email plus a welcome email with links to a free download of my Retro War ebook. The welcome email is sometimes slow in coming (I use Mail Chimp service).
Because my success as an author depends heavily on getting lots of good reviews, I’m going to request, if you liked Rumors of Honor, that you please take a couple of minutes to post a review where you bought this ebook. Every review helps and is much appreciated. Long Live Space Opera!
Dietmar Arthur Wehr
